Japan Foreign Trade Council, Inc. (JFTC) was founded in June 1947 as a core private-sector organization in the area of international trade, with nationwide membership of private companies and organizations. Its direct antecedents comprised four trade promoting organizations which functioned in the early postwar years prior to the re-commencement of private trade. Following the dramatic changes in Japans economic and trade environments which began in the 1970s, JFTC was reorganized in June 1986 to take the form of a trade-industry association with trading companies and trading organizations as its core members.